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OF THE 



SCHOOL COMMITTEE 



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BOSTON : 
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PRINTED BY JOSEPH W. INGllAHAM. 

1823. • • 



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REGULATIONS 



OF THE 



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OF 



BOSTON. 



i HE following Regulations of the School Com- 
mittee of the city of Boston, embrace the sub- 
stance of those heretofore adopted by successive 
boards (as far as they could be collected) from 
1789 to the present year, 1823, who have, for a pe- 
riod of one third of a century, with laudable zeal 
and diligence cherished these our favourite insti- 
tutions. They also correspond very nearly with 
the common usages of the schools. They are 
the fabrick of our fathers, new-modelled and en- 
larged, and accommodated to the order of things 
under the city charter, and to the present circum- 
cumstances and taste of the community. 



.■/ 



SECTION 1. 

Regulations relating to the Board of the School 
Committee. 

This Board consists of twelve gentlemen, annu- 
ally elected, one by each ward of the city, to- 
gether with the mayor and the eight aldermen, 
ex officiis. 

They are recognized by the charter as a 
co-ordinate branch of the city government, and, 
agreeably to their construction of their powers and 
duties, are authorized and required to organize 
their body, appoint their own meetings, raise 
their own committees, and, in short, to manage 
their affairs in such manner, agreeably to the stat- 
utes of the commonwealth, as in their judgment 
will best promote the important objects for which 
they were instituted. 

1. A.t the first meeting in each year, the 
board shall organize itself by appointing a 
chairman, a secretary, visiting committees or 
sub-committees, and such other special or stand- 
ing committees, on different subjects, as the cir- 
cumstances of the publick schools for the current 
year seem to render expedient. 

2. It shall be the duty of the chairman to pre- 
side at the meetings of this board ; to call any 
special "meeting thereof, when he may deem it 
necessary, or at the request of any two of its 
members, in writing ; and to be the organ of 
communication with any other branch or branch- 
es of the city government relative to any votes 
and doings of this body which may have respect 
to a co-operation with them in the transaction of 
business; copies of the same having been duly 
furnished by the secretary. 



In the absence of the stated chairman, his 
place shall be filled by the board, pro tempqre. 

3. It shall be the duty of the secretary to keep 
the records of this board, and faithfully to in- 
sert therein ail their votes and doings, to give 
written notice of all their meetings, to preserve 
files of the communications and reports made to 
them, and to perform any other service usually 
expected of such officer. 

4. A visiting committee, or sub-committee, for 
each school, shall be appointed by the board, con- 
sisting of three^ whose duty it shall be, to visit their 
particular school, at least once each quarter of the 
year, and as much oftener as they can make it 
convenient, for the purpose of attending carefully 
to ail the exercises of each class ; of inspecting 
the school bill, and inquiring into the deport- 
ment and progress of the scholars, in order to 
commend good conduct and improvement, and to 
discountenance negligence and vice ; and of award- 
ing the annual medals to superiour merit. It shall 
be their duty to embrace tliese opportunities 
to converse freely with the instructers on the af- 
fairs of the scliools, to elicit from them such oc- 
casional suggestions as may be turned to their ben- 
efit, to encourage the faithful and deserving in- 
structer in his arduous duties, and to detect and 
marie the delinquencies of the remiss. 

It shall be the duty of the sub-committee to 
give their advice to the instructers on any emer- 
gency ; and, on comxplaint duly made, to take 
cognizance of any difficulty which may have oc- 
curred between the instructers and the parents of 
pupils, relative to the government or instruction 
of their school. An appeal, however, to the 
whole board is not herebv denied to anv citi- 



zen. 



In case of a vacancy in any school in the place 
of either of the instructers, it shall be the duty 
of the sub-committee of said school to procure a 
temporary supply, and to give notice of such va- 
cancy to the board, that they may proceed to 
fill the office in question. In each temporary 
supply the sub-committee shall procure, as far as 
it is practicable, a person of suitable qualifications 
to be confirmed in his place by the board, should 
he apply for it. 

In addition to these specifick duties of the 
sub-committees, it shall be their duty, generally, 
to make any temporary arrangement they may 
think proper, relative to the discipline and in- 
struction of their schools, or the convenience of 
the instructers thereof, in cases not provided for 
by the general regulations of this board. 

Each and every sub-committee shall report to 
this board, when they have visited their schools, 
what accommodations or indulgences they have 
granted any instructer, as exemption from duty, for 
occasional indisposition, &c. and any circumstan- 
ces whatever that may have occurred in the 
course of business, which have a general bearing 
on the interests of the schools ; that an order 
may be taken thereon, if necessary, to preserve 
uniformity in the system of publick education. 

5. An examining committee shall be annually 
appointed by this board, consisting of three 
members, at least, to be joined by as many 
others of the board as can conveniently attend 
whose duty it shall be to visit the several schools 
of the city, in the month of May or June, and 
critically to examine the pupils in all the branch- 
es taught therein, in order to ascertain the con- 
dition of the schools and their comparative merit, 
and to report previously to the annual election of 



the instructers, that the appointments of the 
board, on that occasion, may be judiciously made. 

6. It shall be the duty of the chairman of 
each sub-committee, or special, or standing com- 
mittee, to call a meeting of the same immediate- 
ly after their appointment, when the times of fu- 
ture meetings, and such other arrangements shall 
be agreed on, as shall be deemed by them expe- 
dient. All the official acts of such committees 
shall be done in meetings of the same, duly noti- 
fied by the chairman, and shall be expressive of 
the sense of a majority of any such committee, 
and when reported to this board shall be in v»^rit- 
ing, and shall be submitted to their paramount 
authority. 

7. Although the interest of the schools de- 
mands sub-committees of this board, each mem- 
ber of it shall consider it his duty to exercise a 
watch over the literary and moral improvement 
of every publick school in the city, and to afford 
personal assistance in their visitations, exhibitions, 
and examinations; in short, on common or special 
occasions, according to his inclination, leisure, and 
convenience. 

8. In the month of June, annually, this board 
shall nominate and appoint a suitable number of 
gentlemen, (at present fifty-two,) as equally dis- 
tributed as may be among the wards of the city, 
whose duty collectively shall be to provide in- 
struction for children between four and seven 
years of age, and to apportion the expenses among 
the several schools, agreeably to the direction of 
the town at the institution of the Primary Schools; 
and shall authorize the committee of these 
schools to organize their body and regulate their 
proceedings, as they deem most convenient, and 
to fill all vacancies occurring in the same, dur- 
ing the year ; from whom this board will respect- 



8 



fully receive such communications as they 
may please occasionally to make on the subject of 
those schools. 

9. Whenever this board shall judge that the 
accommodation and benefit of the community re- 
quire an additional school, or the enlargement or 
new-modelling of any in operation, it shall be 
their duty to attend to the subject, and without 
delay to request the co-operation of the City Coun- 
cil in the business : and there shall be appointed 
annually a standing committee of the board to 
meet the agents of said department, and jointly 
Vv'ith the same to superintend the construction of 
the apartments, seats, &c. of the building to be 
erected or repaired during the year ; that the 
best models may be adopted to subserve the 
purposes of improved education, for which this 
board is responsible to the community. 

10. A majority of the board shall be required 
to constitute a quorum for the transaction of bu- 
siness at any meeting of the same. 

1 1. There shall be the following stated meet- 
ings of this board, viz. on the second Tuesday of 
May, August, November, and February, at 10 
o'clock, A. M. at the room of the Mayor and 
Aldermen. At the stated meetings in February 
and August, suitable arrangements shall be made, 
and special committees appointed for the semi- 
annual visitations and exhibitions of the several 
schools. 



Regulations relating to the Puhlick Schools. 

The publick schools of this city consist of one La- 
tin Grammar School, one English High School, 
eight Grammar and Writing Schools, besides one 
African School; and of forty-one Primary Schools, 



9 

besides two Schools for the Africans ; in all of 
which children of both sexes are freely admitted 
to all the privileges therein enjoyed, except in the 
two schools first named, which are designed 
exclusively for the benefit of the male population. 
These schools are intended to form a system of 
education, advancing from the lowest to the high- 
est degree of improvement, which can be derived 
from any literary seminaries inferiour to colleges 
and universities. In these, the youth of this me- 
tropolis, through the unexampled liberality of the 
citizens in their corporate capacity, and the mu- 
nificence of individuals, at different periods, en- 
joy advantages second to none in the schools of 
our country, for obtaining a practical and theo- 
retical acquaintance with the various branches of 
a useful education, for acquiring good moral hab- 
its, and imbibing pure and patriotick principles. 

The particular superintendence of the Prima- 
ry schools is delegated to a separate board, who 
publish their own rules and regulations. 

CHAPTER I, 

Regulations common to all the Publick Schools 
under the immediate Superintendence of the School 
Committee. 

1. The instructors, in all the publick schools, 
shall be elected, and their salaries voted, annually ; 
and no continuance or preferment of them in office 
shall be predicated on any principles, but those of 
literary and moral merit and practical skill. In 
their original appointment, the degree of Bachelor 
of Arts, at some respectable college, duly incor- 
porated and authorized to confer degrees, shall 
be considered as a necessary qualification in the 
2 



10 

instructers of all the publick schools, except the 
writing. 

2. As all the instructers derive their authority 
from this board, they shall be alike responsible 
to it for the faithful discharge of their appro- 
priate duties, and be equally under its patro- 
nage, and shall be alike respected and obeyed by 
their pupils. The Masters of the schools shall 
hold priority of rank; and their direction shall be 
followed in cases not provided for by the general 
regulations of this board, or any sub-committee of 
the same, or by the written and authorized rules 
of the school. In instances of unfaithfulness in 
office, it shall be the mutual duty of those imme- 
diately connected in the business of a school, to 
represent the same to the sub-committee of the 
school in question, and through them to this 
board ; that any abuse of their confidence may 
be promptly corrected. 

3. The instructers shall be punctual in their 
attendance at the hours appointed for opening the 
schools, and shall require like punctuality of the 
scholars. Strict regard shall also be paid to the 
hours assigned for dismissing the schools ; and no 
scholars shall be allowed to depart before the 
same, except at the request of a parent or guardian, 
expressed personally at the time, or by a particu- 
lar note, or special messenger, or in cases other- 
wise authorized by the committee. During school 
hours the instructers shall faithfully devote them- 
selves to the publick service only. 

4. The mornina: exercises of all the schools 
shall commence with reading the scriptures, and 
prayer, by the masters, or otherwise in their 
absence by the assistants, in their respective 
apartments ; and the evening exercises shall be 
concluded in like manner. 



11 

5. The books used, the studies pursued, and 
the general classification established, in all the 
publick schools, shall be such and such only as 
shall have met the approbation of their respec- 
tive sub-committees, or have been introduced bj a 
special committee and in due form authorized by 
the board. No scholars shall be allowed to re- 
tain their connexion with any of the publick 
schools, unless they are furnished by their pa- 
rents or guardians with the books and utensils 
regularly required to be used in the schools 
respectively. 

6. All the masters shall be required to keep 
bills or books, which shall be furnished at the 
publick expense, and shall remain the property 
of the schools, in which they shall record 
the names, ages, places of residence, absences,'"* 
and tardinesses of their pupils, and such other 
particulars of their conduct, application, improve- 
ment, promotion, and general character, as shall 
enable the committees at their visitations (on all 
of which it shall be the duty of the masters to 
exhibit the same to them) to form an adequate 
idea of the state of the schools ; and it shall be 
the duty of the instructers frequently to remind 
their pupils of the important consequences, which 
may result to them individually from these per- 
petual records. 

7. It is enjoined on the instructers to keep 
the children out of idleness, and give them as 
full employment as possible ; to exercise vigilant, 
prudent, and firm discipline ; to punish as spar- 
ingly as is consistent with eflect ; and to govern 
by persuasion and gentle measures, so far as is 
practicable. Standing in the place of parents 
for the time being, it shall be their duty to en- 
deavour to exercise severally over their pu- 
pils all that authority, and that only, which 



12 



must be exercised by a kind and judicious father 
of a family, to obtain and ensure the prompt obe- 
dience and good deportment of his children. 

They shall encourage and assist industrious 
and good scholars, shall reward and honour them 
in the prosecution of their studies, and endea- 
vour, by judicious and diversified modes, to render 
the exercises of the schools pleasant as well as 
profitable. 

For violent or pomted opposition to his au- 
thority in any particular instance, or for the 
repetition of an offence, the iustructer may ex- 
clude a child from his school, for the time being, 
for the purpose of reflection and consultation ; 
and thereupon shall inform the parent or guar- 
dian of the measure, and shall apply to the sub- 
coniraittee for advice and direction. 

Where the example of any scholar is very 
injurious and contagious, and, in general, in all 
cases where reformation appears hopeless, it 
shall be the duty of the masters, with the ap- 
probation of the Sub-committee, to have recourse 
to suspension from the school. But any child 
under this publick censure, who shall have ex- 
pressed to the instructors his regret for his folly 
or indiscretion, as openly and explicitly as the 
nature of the case seems to them to require, and 
manifests full proof of his amendment, shall be 
reinstated by them in the privileges of the 
school ; not, however, without the previous con- 
sent of said committee. 

That the children may perceive that they are 
under a system of discipline, not arbitrary or 
capricious, but equitable and uniform, the com- 
mittee recommend to the instructers, especially 
where two instructers are employed in the 
apartment, to commit to writing, in general 
terras, their requirements and prohibitions, and to 



13 

cause them to be read aloud in school occasional- 
ly, and to be posted up, that the children may 
not plead ignorance of duty with this constant 
monitor before them : and that where there are 
two instructers enforcing their own rules, there 
may be a constant and effectual co-operation. 
These written rules, (with their sanctions an- 
nexed in general terms,) not contravening the 
express regulations enacted by this board, and 
having received the approbation of the sub-com- 
mittees of the schools, respectively, shall be 
authorized by this board. 

To promote the well being of their pupils, it 
shall be the indispensable duty of the instructers to 
exercise a general care and inspection over them 
as well out of school as within its walls, and 
frequently to inculcate upon them the principles of 
kindness and sincerity to their equals ; of due 
respect to the aged and to superiours ; of rever- 
ence for the literary, civil, and religious institu- 
tions of our country ; of love of social order and 
obedience to the laws ; of supreme regard to the 
name and will of God and to virtue : and, more- 
over, they shall instil into their susceptible minds 
an abhorrence of idleness, of profane and indecent 
language, of falsehood, dishonesty, and inhumani- 
ty, a dread of the misrule of appetite and passion, 
and of the fatal consequences of a vicious life. 
And the instructers shall be required, subject to 
the advice of the sub-committee, to expel from 
school any pupil, who shall manifest an habitual 
and determined neglect of these duties. 

8. It shall be the duty of the instructers to 
exercise suitable vigilance with regard to the 
apartments of the publick buildings, and appurte- 
nances of the same, by them respectively occu- 
pied, that there may be no unnecessary injury 



14 

sustained hj them, from tlieir pupils, bj cutting, 
disfiguring, or other improper usage. 

9. The following shall be the only Holjdays 
and Vacations, granted alike to all the publick 
schools ; viz. every Thursday and Saturday af- 
ternoon throughout the year ; days of Fast and 
Thanksgiving; Christmas day, and the after- 
noons preceding Fasts, Thanksgivings, and Christ- 
mas; the first Monday in June; the fourth of 
July ; the general trainings ; Election week ; 
Commencement week ; and the remainder of the 
week after the visitation and exhibition of the 
schools ; and no other days, except by a special 
vote of this Board. 

10. There shall be two general visitations of 
the schools annually, for the purpose of exhibi- 
tion, viz. the first on the Wednesday next pre- 
ceding commencement at the university in Cam- 
bridge ; the second, on the third Wednesday in 
February ; and one fortnight shall be given the 
instructors to prepare their pupils to appear to 
advantage on these occasions. Over these exhi- 
bitions the special committees appointed by this 
board to attend, shall exercise whatever control 
they shall judge proper. 

At the exhibition in August, besides other 
marks of distinction, the Franklin medals shall 
be bestowed in publick as rewards of merit, on 
those boys to whom they have been previously 
assigned by the sub-committees of the respec- 
tive schools ; " general scholarship" having been 
taken into consideration in the assignments ; and 
the city medals, on those girls, who have obtain- 
ed them by like merit. 

11. In cases of difficulty in the discharge of 
their official duties, or when any temporary dis- 



15 

pensation in their favour is desirable, the instruc- 
ters shall apply to the Sub-committees of their 
respective schools for advice and direction, for 
the time being. 

12. No instructer in the publick schools shall 
be allowed to keep a private school of any des- 
cription whatever, or to attend to the instruction 
of any private pupils, before 6 o'clock, P. M. 
and any Master or Usher violating this regulation, 
shall be considered as having vacated his office. 

13. Any instructer, who shall intentionally vio- 
ate any of the regulations of this board made 
for his observance, or shall counteract any of 
their orders, duly promulgated to hira, shall 
immediately, on proof of the fact, be dismissed 
from his office. 

14. A good understanding shall ever be main- 
ed among all the publick schools in the city. 

No scholar shall be admitted to the privileges 
of one school who has been expelled from anoth- 
er, or even suspended, while he is under that 
censure. 

Every scholar, who shall be transferred from 
one school to another of the same rank, shall be 
the bearer of a certificate from the master he 
leaves, expressing his standing and character, 
which shall be demanded of him, as a condition 
of his admission, by the master to whom he ap- 
plies for that purpose. In this case no examina- 
tion of his qualifications shall be required for ad- 
mission to the same standing. 

Children going from inferiour schools to su- 
periour, as from the primary schools to the 
publick grammar schools, and from these to the 
Latin or English High School, shall also be the 
bearers of certificates setting forth their charac- 
ter and qualifications, as an indispensable condi- 



16 

tion of their being admitted to examination for 
the advanced standing, to which they aspire, in 
those schools, respectively. 

CHAPTER II. 

Regulations relating to the English Grammar 
Schools. 

These schools are the second in order in the 
system of publick education established in this 
city. The following are their situations and names. 

y' 

1. North Bennet Street, Eliot School. 

2. Middle Street, Hancock School. 

3. Hawkins Street, Mayhew School. 

4. Derne Street,* 

5. Belknap Street, African School. 

6. Mason Street, Adams School. 

7. Nassau Street, Franklin School. 

8. Fort Hill, Boylston School. 

9. South Boston, Hawes School. 

In these, where the arrangement is completed, 
there are two apartments in the building, or two 
schools connected in their operation, each under 
a distinct master and assistant ; in one of which 
the children are taught spelling, reading, decla- 
mation, geography, English grammar, and English 
exercises on the various parts of grammar, in- 
cluding composition ; and in the other are taught 
writing and arithmetick. To these apply the 
following regulations, in addition to those laid 
down in the preceding chapter. 

* It is intended that this schoolhouse shall be appropriated 
wholly to the English High School^ when the schoolhouse is 
finished, which is directed to be built in Pinckney street. 



17 

1. Children may be admitted into the gram- 
mar and writing schools, at the age of seven 
years, having been qualified at the primary 
schools, or having received the necessary pre- 
paratory instruction at other schools. No ex- 
amination of those shall take place, who bring 
with thera the certificate of recommendation 
from the ward, or district committee of the pri- 
mary schools, stated in section 6, rule 6, of 
their rules and regulations. The qualifications 
of others shall be particularly ascertained by the 
master of the grammar department of the school; 
and it shall appear, that they have been made 
acquainted with the common stops and abbre- 
viations, have been exercised in some judicious 
spelling book, can tell the chapters and verses, 
and can read fluently and spell correctly in the 
New Testament, in order to their admission into 
his school. 

No scholar shall attend the writing department 
of either of these schools, w^ho has not been previ- 
ously examined and admitted by the master of 
the grammar department. 

2. To prevent inconvenience to the instructors 
and derangement of the classes, new pupils shall 
be admitted into the publick grammar schools 
only on the first Monday of every month through 
the year. 

3. Boys shall not be permitted to retain 
their places in the grammar and writing 
schools, beyond the day of the next semi-annual 
visitation, or exhibition, after they have arrived 
at 14 years of age, unless by special leave, obtain- 
ed from this board. Girls shall be allowed 
to attend these schools one year longer than 
boys. 

4. Children admitted into the grammar school 
shall be required to attend half of the time in 

3 



18 

the writing department. No scholar shall be 
suffered to give his genera! or exclusive attend- 
ance in one department of the school, totlie neg- 
lect of the other, without a special permit from 
this board. 

5. From the first Monday in April, to the first 
Monday in October annually, the hours for keep- 
ing these schools, shall be from 8 o'clock, A. M. 
until 12, and from 2 until 5 o'clock, P. M. ; and 
from the first Monday in October, to the first 
Monday in April, from 9 to 12, and from 2 to 
half past 4. Fi-om the first Monday in April, to 
to the first Monday in December, shall be called 
the summer term, and from the first Monday 
in Deceoiber, to the first Monday in April, the 
winter term, of these schools. 

6. No children belonging to these schools shall 
be allowed to come into school later than a 
quarter of an hour after the hour appointed for 
opening the same, and none shall be permitted 
to depart therefrom, but at the appointed hour ; 
except occasionally, according to the 3d Reg. of 
the preceding chapter, and the 9th Keg. in this 
chapter. 

7. These schools shall be divided into four 
classes, except for the purposes of writing, each 
having its appropriate duties and employments. 
Sub-divisions of these classes shall be left to the 
discretion of the instructers ; as few, however, as 
may be, being hereby recommended. It is also 
recommended to the instructers to avail them- 
selves of the assistance of their most advanced 
pupils, whenever it can be faithfully and judi- 
ciously applied, in order to render the more 
effectual service to the schools. 

8. The internal economy of these schools, rel- 
ative to the order, extent, and frequency of ex- 
ercises, competition for places, &;c. in the differ- 
ent apartments, is left to the good sense and 



19 

fidelity of the instructers, subject to the control 
of the sub-committees of the schools respeciive- 
Ij. But their special attention is required to 
the ventilation and temperature of the school- 
rooms, and to the cleanliness and comfort of the 
scholars of these large establishments. 

9. One hour before the regular time of clos- 
ing the morning school, and one half hour be- 
fore that of closing the evening school, during 
the summer term, as in Reg. 5, of this section, 
the children of the first and third classes shall be 
dismissed in the forenoon, and of the second and 
fourth in the afternoon, from the first Monday 
in April to the first Monday in May ; and from 
the first Monday in May to the first Monday in 
June, the children of the second and fourth 
i;lasses shall be dismissed in the forenoon, and of 
the first and third in the afternoon, and so on al- 
ternately by months ; such individuals of them 
only being detained for punishment, as shall 
have been idle or disorderly; provided the in- 
structers see fit to adopt this mode of punish- 
ment. During this hour or half hour as the case 
may be, the instructers shall be at liberty to dis- 
miss in succession such individuals of the remain- 
ing classes as they find on recitation to acquit 
themselves well, if no delinquency or misde- 
meanour of theirs may render this inexpedient. 
The instructers, however, themselves shall give 
their full time to the business of the school, and 
not leave the same before the hours appointed for 
dismissing, as in the 5th regulation of this chap- 
ter. 

10. Females shall attend these schools from 
the first Monday in April to the first Monday in 
December; but the males shall attend through 
the year. 

11. During the summer term the boys and 



20 

girls shall attend in the different apartments of 
the school alternately in the following order. 
From the first Monday in April to the first Mon- 
day in May, all the girls shall attend the gram- 
mar master, and all the boys the writing master 
in the morning; and all the girls shall attend the 
writing master, and all the boys shall attend the 
grammar master, in the afternoon. The month 
following, the order shall be reversed : and this 
alteration shall continue through the summer 
term. 

12. From the first Monday in December to 
the first Monday in January, the first and 
third classes shall attend the grammar, and 
the second and fourth the writing master, in the 
morning ; and the first and third shall attend the 
writing, and the second and fourth the grammar 
master in the afternoon. The month succeeding 
the order shall be reversed ; and so on alternate- 
ly, during the wmter term. 

13. The following books and exercises, are 
those required, at present, in the English Gram- 
mar department of these schools. 

Fourth Class. No. 1. Spelling Book, by Lind- 
ley Murray, stereotype edition. 2. New Tes- 
tament. 

Third Class. No. 1. 2. continued, and No. 3. 
Murray's Introduction to his English Reader, 
Collins's stereotype edition, New York. 

Second Class. No. 4. Bible. 5. Murray's Eng- 
lish Reader, Col. stereotype edit. 6. Murray's 
English Grammar, abridged by himself, Col- 
lins's stereotyjje edition. 7. Walker's Dictionary 
abridged. 8.Geography,vvith Atlas, by Worcester. 

First Class. No. 4. 6. 7. 8. continued, and No. 9. 
American First Class Book. 10. Murray's Eng- 
lish Grammar and Exercises, Collins's stereotype 
edition; and Composition. 11. Declamation. 



21 

14. It shall be the duty of the instructers in 
the writing department of the school to prepare 
the writing books and pens of the scholars at such 
time, that there may be no delay or interruption 
of business in school hours. 

In this department all the children shall be 
taught writing and arithmetick daily. 

That there may be no intervals of idleness, the 
instructers shall require them to learn perfectly 
by heart such tables and rules in arithmetick as 
they find suitable to their various capacities and 
improvements ; and if these exercises are not 
sufficient, spelling lessons shall fill up their leisure. 

The number of classes or divisions in writing 
shall depend on the pleasure of the writing mas- 
ter. But for the purposes of arithmetick this 
school shall be divided into four classes, and be 
taught as follows. 

Fourth Class. Numeration Table. Numera- 
tion and Notation fully exemplified, in small and 
large numbers. Roman Notation. Addition and 
Subtraction Table, with its uses. Multiplication 
and Division Table, with its uses. 

Third Class. Simple Addition, Subtraction, 
Multiplication, and Division, Federal Money. 

Second Class. Compound Tables of Money, 
Weights, and Measures, Reduction, Compound 
Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication,and Division, 
Exchange of Coins. 

First Class. Rule of Three, and more advan- 
ced Rules, in which the principle of Proportion 
is involved. Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, as 
applicable to those Rules, The Roofs, &c. 

The author on arithmetick ret^uired to be used 
is Daboll, for the purpose of written arithme- 
tick. Colburn's Arithmetick and Sequel maybe 
used for the profitable exercises of mental calcu- 
lation. 



22 

15. A department of these schools shall be 
deemed full, when it consists of 300 pupils ; and 
no more shall be admitted, except in cases of 
emergency the sub-committee of the school shall 
so order it. No masters shall be permitted to 
crowd their school, while a less number belongs to, 
or usually attends, the other schools of the same 
rank. And it shall be the duty of the masters of 
each school to make to the secretary of this board 
regular quai'terly returns, i. e. on the first week of 
April, July, October, and January, signed by both 
masters, of the number of scholars, male and fe- 
male, attending their school, together with their 
ages, and places of abode, that this board may re- 
gulate the number which shall attend each school, 
and, if necessary, transfer some to other schools, 
where fewer attend ; regard being always had, 
in adopting this measure, to the distance of 
each pupil from the schools, it being intended, 
that the children, as far as possible, shall be ac- 
commodated in the school nearest to their resi- 
dence. 

lb. To stimulate the senior boys to greater ex- 
ertion, as well as to form a proper bond of union 
between these and the highest order of our 
schools, this board does hereby order, that the 
two boys m.ost distinguished for their improve- 
ment and good behaviour united, in the gram- 
mar department, and the same number of the 
same description in the writing department, of 
each ot" these schools, shall, in addition to receiv- 
ing the Franklin medals, by special favour, be 
promoted from these schools to the English High 
School or Latin Grammar School, at their plea- 
sure, if of suitable age and their parents or guar- 
dians so desire, at the stated season for admission 
into them, without undergoing the usual examina- 



23 

tion for that purpose, on producing a certificate 
from the sub-committee of their school, (which 
they are hereby empowered and requested to fur- 
nish,) addressed to the masters of those schools, 
respectively, setting forth the honourable stand- 
ing of the boys in question, and their title to this 
promotion. 

CHAPTER in. 

Regulations relating to the English High SchooL 

This school is situated in Derne street. It 
has been instituted, at the publick expense, with 
the express design of furnishing the young men 
of this city, who are not intended for a collegiate 
course of study, and who have derived the usual 
advantages of the other publick schools, with the 
means of completing a good English education, 
to fit them for active life, or qualify them for 
eminence in private or publick stations. Here 
are enjoyed, especially, the best instructions in 
the elements of mathematicks and natural phi- 
losophy, with their application to the sciences 
and arts, in grammar, rhetorick, and belles-lettres, 
in moral philosophy, and in history, natural and 
civil. This establishment is furnished with a 
very valuable mathematical and philosophical 
apparatus, for the purposes of experiment and 
illustration. 

In addition to the common regulations. Sect. 
2. Chap. 1. the following are required to be ob- 
served in this school. 

1. No boy shall be admitted, as a member of 
the English High School, under the age of 12 
years. 

2. Boys shall be examined for admission into 
this school only once a year, viz. on the Friday 



24 

and Saturday following the semi-annual visita- 
tion and exhibition of the school in August. 

3. Candidates for examination shall produce 
from the masters of the schools they last attend- 
ed, certificates of good moral character and pre- 
sumed qualifications for admission into this school. 
It shall, however, be the duty of the master of 
it, to institute a personal examination of them in 
KeadiogjWriting, English Gramoiar, Geography, 
and Arithmetick as far as Proportion, including a 
general view of Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, 
in all which they shall be found well versed, in 
order to be admitted. The lads, who produce 
the certificates granted them for their merit, as 
in Sect. 2. Chap. 2. Reg. 16. shall be exempted 
from examination accordingly. 

4. The school shall be divided into three 
classes ; and such sections of these shall be form- 
ed as the good ol' the school may, from time to 
time, demand. Each class shall have their ap- 
propriate studies assigned them, corresponding 
to the intellectual progress of the institution; 
and to every class and section of the same the 
master shall be required to give a due propor- 
tion of his personal attention. 

5. Individuals shall be advanced in these 
classes according to their scholarship, and no 
faster ; and none shall be permitted to remain 
members of the school longer than three years to 
complete their course. 

6. The classes or sections shall be required to 
pursue their respective branches of study not 
less than one week, without mixture, except 
where occasional exercises, as writing, reading, 
declamation, composition, &c. may be advanta- 
geously introduced, as a relief to the pupils. 

7. Particular reviews of each class, or section, 
shall be instituted, once a week, and general re- 



25 



Tiews once a quarter, by the several instructers, 
in their appropriate departments. 

8. The branches of learning and authors, to 
which the several classes shall, at present, be 
required to attend, are as follows. 

3d, or lowest Class. No. 1. Intellectual and 
Written Arithmetick, by Col burn and Lacroix. 
2. Ancient and Modern Geography, by Worces- 
ter. 3. General History, by Tytler; History of 
the United States, by Grimshaw. 4. Elements 
of Arts and Sciences, by Blair. 5. Reading, 
Grammar and Declamation. 6. Book-keeping, 
by Single and Double Entry. 7, Sacred Geo- 
graphy. 

2(i Cjass. No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, continued.' 
And No. 8. Algebra, by dictation.... and Euler. 
9. Rhetorick and Composition.. ..Blair's Lect. 
Abridg. 10. Geometry, by Legendre. 11. Na- 
tural Philosophy. 12. Natural Theology, by Pa- 
ley. 

1st Class. No. 5, 8, 9, 10,11, 12, continu- 
ed. And 13. Chronology. 14. Moral Philoso- 
phy, by Paley. 15. Forensicks. 16. Criticisms 
on English Authors. 17. Practical Mathematicks, 
comprehending Navigation, Surveying, Mensura- 
tion, Astronomical Calculations, &c. together 
with the Construction and Use of Mathematical 
Instruments. 20. A course of Experimental 
Lectures on the various branches of Natural 
Philosophy. 21. Evidences of Christianity, by 
Paley. 

9. For every accession of forty pupils to the 
whole number in this school, an additional as- 
sistant shall be allowed the master, that is, there 
shall be at least one instructor for every forty 
pupils. 

10. Supplemental to the liolydays granted to 
all the schools, in Sect. 2. Chap. 1. Reg. 9. the 

4 



26 



English High School shall be entitled to the 
week succeeding the week of Commencement at 
Cambridge, as an extension of their vacation. 

11. The times for beginning and ending this 
school, dailj, and the allowance for tardiness, 
shall be the same as in the Latin Grammar 
School ; excepting, that no classes shall be dis- 
missed before the regular hour of closing the 
school, in the forenoon. Sec Sect. 2. Chap. 4, 
Reg. 10. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Reorulations relating: to the Latin Grammar School. 

This establishment is now permanently situat- 
ed in School street. It is venerable for its antiqui- 
ty, and of the first respectability among similar 
institutions in our country. The Latin Gram- 
mar School and the English High School 
form the highest order of seminaries in this me- 
tropolis, and complete the system of publick edu- 
cation, enjoyed ahke by all classes of its citizens. 

In the Latin Grammar School, the rudiments 
of the Latin and Greek languages are taught, 
and scholars fully qualified for the University. 
The selection of authors here used is very copi- 
ous, and the mode of studying them laborious 
and exact, rendering the youth familiarly and 
critically acquainted with the best productions 
of the great masters of poetry, history, and ora- 
tory of Greece and Rome ; and large portions 
of the poets are committed to memory. Be- 
sides, superiour instruction is also given in this 
school, in mathematicks, geography, chronology, 
oratory, and English composition. 

The subsequent regulations are appended to 
those contained in Sect. 2. Chap. 1. to be ob- 
served in this school. 



27 



1. Boys to be admitted into this school shall 
be at least 9 years old. 

2. Qualifications for admission shall be, (unless 
dispensed with agreeably to Sect. 2. Chap. 2. 
Reg. 16.) to be able to read common English 
authors correctly and fluently, to know all stops, 
marks, and abbreviations therein occurring, to 
write a running hand, and to have sufficient 
knowledge of English Grammar to parse com- 
mon sentences in prose. Good moral character 
shall also be indispensable. 

3. The time of admission shall be the Friday 
and Saturday next succeeding the semi-annual 
exhibition of the school in August; on which 
days, only, the master of this school shall admit 
candidates who possess the requisite qualifica- 
tions. 

4. The regular course of instruction shall con- 
tinue five years ; and no scholar shall enjoy the 
privileges of this school beyond that term, Avith- 
out express permission of the sub-committee and 
the consent of this board. 

5. The school shall be divided into five class- 
es, and such subordinate sections, as the instruc- 
ters may think advisable. In the formation of 
these sections and the disposal of them under the 
different instructers, regard shall be had to the 
assignment of as few branches of instruction to 
each as may be found by the master to be prac- 
ticable. But both of these arrangements shall 
be made subject to the approbation of the sub- 
committee of the school. 

6. It shall be the duty of the master to give 
his occasional services to each portion of the 
school, and to institute a rigid examination of the 
pupils, in the difierent apartments, in all the 
studies, to which they have attended during the 
period of each month. 



28 



7. The books and exercises, to which they 
may be at present required to attend, during 
their course of instruction in the school, are 
those specified in the following numbers : 

5th Class. No. 1. Adam's Latin Grammar. 

4th Class. No. 1. continued. And No. 2. 
Latin Dictionary, Entick's or Ainsworth's. 3. 
Liber Primus. 4. Graecoe Historise Epitome. 
5. Viri Romas. 6. Phaedri Fabulae, by Bur- 
man. 7. Nepos. 8. Ovid's Metamorphoses, 
by Willymotte. 9. Valpy's Chronology. 10. 
Dana's Latin Tutor. 11. Tooke's Pantheon. 

3d Class. No. 1. 2. 10. continued. And No. 
12. Greek Grammar, Gloucester. 13. Caesar's 
Commentaries. 14. Electa ex Ovidio et Tibul- 
lo. 15. Delectus Sententiarura Grascarum. 16. 
Col. Gr. Minora. 17. Sallust. 18. Virgil. 19. 
Frequent exercises in writing Latin prose ; and 
Translations from Latin and Greek into English. 

2d and 1st Classes. No. 1.2, &c. continued. 
And No. 20. Valpy's Elegantise Latinae. 21. 
Bradley's Prosody. 22. Cicero's Select Orations 
— De Officiis — De Scnectute — De Amicitia. 23. 
Horace Expurg. 24. Juvenal and Persius Ex- 
purg. 25. Greek Primitives. 26. Greek Lex- 
icons — Schrevelius — Hedericus — Scapula Mo- 

rell's Thesaurus. 27. Xenophon's Anabasis. 
28. Mattaire's Homer. 29. Greek Testament. 
30. Wyttenbach's Greek Historians. 31. Geog- 
raphy. 32. Arithmetick. 33. Geometry. 34. 
Trigonometry. 35. Algebra. 36. Neilson's 
Greek Exercises. 

The following are required promiscuously of 
different classes, No. 37. Walker's Classical Key. 
38. Lempriere's Classical Dictionary. 39. Ad- 
am's Roman Antiquities. 40. Declamation. 41. 
Themes. 42. Exercises in Latin prose. 43. 
Latin Poetry. To these two last items, this 



29 

board require the particular attention of the 
Principal. 

No translations of the foregoing Latin and 
Greek authors are allowed in the school. 

Reading English, both in prose and verse, 
with readiness and propriety, shall be considered 
as essential to every class in the Latin and 
English High Schools, as well as in the Reading 
Schools ; and the masters of these schools are 
required to pay the greatest attention to this im- 
portant branch of instruction. 

8. Promotions of the boys from class to class, 
shall correspond to the talent and improvement 
of each, and shall take place as frequently as the 
good of the institution, in the opinion of the in- 
structors, will authorize them. 

9. Such marks of distinction and such rewards 
shall be conferred on merit, as shall be found 
most effectually to operate on the minds of the 
pupils as incentives to excellence. 

10. The times of beginning and ending this 
school shall be the same in the forenoon as in 
the publick grammar schools ; but, in the after- 
noon, school shall commence, during the summer 
term, at 3 o'clock, P. M. and end at 6 ; and dur- 
ing the winter term, shall begin half past 2, and 
end at half past 4; and 5 minutes only shall be 
allowed for tardiness, at the expiration of which 
the doors shall be closed against delinquents. 

11. The three lowest classes shall be dismiss- 
ed from the school each day, at 11 o'clock, that 
an hour may be devoted by them to relaxation, 
or to some polite accomplishment, or useful study, 
at the pleasure of each individual. 

12. The holydays and vacations of this school 
shall be the same as those allowed the English 
High School, Sect. 2. Chap. 3. Reg. 10. 



30 

13. A certificate from the master of this school, 
in favour of any of his pupils of suitable age, 
shall be admitted as their passport to the English 
High School, but to such standing as the mas- 
ter of that school shall determine ; and vice versa. 

14. The number of instructors employed in 
this school shall be regulated by the principle 
stated Sect. 2. Chap. 3. lleg. 9. 



At a legal Meeting of the School Committee 
of the City of Boston, held this day, December 
5, 1823 ; 

Resolved, That the foregoing regulations, as 
revised and amended, be, and the same are here- 
by adopted by the School Committee for the fu- 
ture management and regulation of the Schools; 
and it is ordered that the same be printed, and 
that a copy thereof be furnished to each of the 
Masters and Ushers of the publick schools of 
this city. 

Attest, 

WILLIAM WELLS, 

Secretary to the School Committee. 



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